


Choice

by WordCasters



Series: Magical Theory [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: Duel Magic Theory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 10:14:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2105892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WordCasters/pseuds/WordCasters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look at how Duel Magic affects the fabric of reality in the Yu-gi-oh verse. Focuses on Jaden/Judai post Duel Academy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Traveler

**Author's Note:**

> This work is very raw. I started working on it years ago and abandoned it. I was thinking about cleaning it up and finishing it, but couldn't quite get up the motivation to do it. I don't want to go through the trouble if nobody else is interested in the concepts I was trying to work with. So, I decided to post it here in it's current state. If you find the story interesting please let me know. A lot of the writing is awkward, my writing style tends to change depending on what I'm reading at the time which makes maintaining a consistent tone challenging. I sometimes over correct and my language gets stilted. If you like the concept of the story but have issues with the style please let me know (politely). I used a mix of Japanese and English names or reasons that seemed reasonable at the time but now seem like a bad idea. Sorry about that. It'll be changed if I do decide to edit.

Isabel had been reading in the corner when she was suddenly interrupted by the flurry of motion that had entered the room. She looked up to her see her brothers Jake and Alan shouting excitedly but she couldn't make heads or tails of what it was they were shouting about.

Their father held up his hands, and said in his deep slow voice "Calm down boys." He waited a moment for them to catch their breath and for the echoes of their shouts to fade from the air around them. "Now what is it that's got you so riled up?"

Both boys attempted to be the one to depart the news but Jake got the words out first and therefore won the honor of the telling. "A stranger has been spotted on the road, a traveler! He is traveling on foot and will probably be here sometime tomorrow."

Isabel's family lived in a small rural village. They had enough technology to keep them connected to the outside world but visitors were still rare and therefore special. She went back to reading her book but she couldn't seem to concentrate on it. Her mind kept wandering to the stranger on the road. She wondered what he would be like and why he was traveling.

The last traveler to come through had come into town on a motorcycle and headed straight for the local bar. Everyone had been afraid he would be the type to cause trouble and he did get stupidly drunk but, thankfully, he moved on early the next day.

The last visitor before him however and been an elderly woman making her way south to visit her granddaughter. She has stayed a few days and shared some stories with the children. That was how Isabel had found out the woman had once been a duelist. Several of the boys in town had decks and her brothers even shared one of the few coveted duel disks in the village but Isabel had never before heard of a woman duelist.

After that encounter she had paid more attention to her brothers' duels. She picked up on the rules with a speed that would have impressed anyone who had been paying attention but no one was. Isabel even began to collect cards and build a deck but she did it all on the sly. She was afraid of what would happen if others found out that she dreamed of being a duelist. So she studied the rules and history of the game in secret.

"Isabel!" Her mother's voice interrupted Isabel's private musings. She looked up to see her mother standing over her. "Why are reading in a corner? Anyway I came to ask if you wanted to help me prepare something special for the traveler tomorrow. A traveler on foot is bound to be hungry." Isabel nodded; she loved helping her mother cook. She firmly believed that her mother was the best cook in the village and she was proud to have the honor of learning from her though she sometimes wondered if her mother would be ashamed of a daughter who dueled.

* * *

As the sun began to set Judai set up his little camp. He had been living as a nomad for about two years now. He had traveled to large cities, tiny towns, abandoned ruins and crowded museums. When he had first entered Duel Academy he had believed that he was there to improve his skills in the most prestigious and respected card game in the world. However he had been forced to learn rather quickly that Duel Monsters was far more than just a card game. When Pegasus created Duel Monsters he reforged the link between this world and a world beyond and that link was causing the magic to leak and the rules of both worlds to change.

At first Judai had spent his travels searching for the secrets of the past, learning the history of both his world and the other world and trying to understand how they were connected so that he could break the connection and stop the strange terrors of the Shadow Games and other side effects of the link.

He had actually discovered several ways rather quickly. The link had been forged and broken and reforged many times throughout history and each time it brought with it great terrors that would have meant the end of both worlds if not for luck and the right warrior duelists at the right time. Eventually it had occurred to Judai that maybe he was going about this in the wrong way. True, he could break the link now and his world would go back to the way it had been before and Duel Monsters would be nothing more than a complicated card game but how long would it be before the link was remade once again? If history was anything to go by the link would be recreated and who knew what form it would take next time? What if the warrior duelists of that generation failed? Wouldn't it be safer to let the two worlds merge?

Already the link had begun creating warrior duelists of increasing power. Judai was proof of that. His skill was equal to that of the last lead warrior Yugi Moto and only slightly less than that of the Pharaoh Atem, but the duel magic he possessed was more powerful than even the great Pharaoh's. He could see the duel spirits and he had even fused with one of them. That there were others who could also see the duel spirits was proof that the magic that held the two worlds together was doing its best to aid in the transition even as it tore holes in the fabric of their reality. Maybe the two worlds were meant to become one but Judai had inherited a legacy, a duty that stretched back for millennia and all the others before him and chosen to break the link. Was he really going to be the one to change thousands of years of tradition?

His mind had been stuck in indecision, a situation it had hardly ever experienced before and Yubel was as confused as he was and therefore of little help. Finally he had decided that there was only one other person who had a hope of understanding his dilemma and he had set off to find this person. There were faster ways to reach him than this wandering nomadic pace but Judai was willing to take his time. There was still much to discover about the changing nature of duels. He smiled as he thought of the town up ahead maybe there would be some young duelists there.

Judai was never alone. Always Yubel was with him, Winged Kuriboh was never far away, he had Pharaoh to snuggle with on cold nights and Banner was a wealth of obscure knowledge but while they were all great company Judai sometimes still felt very lonely. He tried not to let Yubel know. It hurt Yubel's feelings to know that he was lonely but he could never keep anything from her. She was his partner, his aibou, their souls were fused together and he loved her but she could not provide him with everything.

What Judai missed most when he went for long stretches without seeing another human soul was the excitement and joy of the duel and he could not exactly duel Yubel or Winged Kuriboh. ( He had tried dueling Pharaoh/Banner once, it hadn't ended well.) But there was a town up ahead and if he was lucky it would contain a couple of young duelists. Judai had found that he preferred dueling with children, most adults lacked the passion and joy that children had, that Judai had.

He had never made a name for himself in the dueling world outside of Duel Academy but somehow his name had managed to get around anyway. Many of his classmates had gone on to be famous duelists. Zane and Cyrus had recently launched a new form of dueling known as Turbo dueling, Chazz had become one of the most highly paid professional duelists in any league and Johan and Aster had both made it to the top of some of the most elite tournaments and all of them occasionally mentioned Judai Yuki.

They never said much about him but his name had come up often enough that the reporters had made a big deal about the "hidden duelist". The result was when Judai introduced himself in a new town or city most people took the name to be a joke or an alias. At first he had spent a lot of time trying to convince people that he really was Judai Yuki but he had soon discovered that success meant being heckled by people who wanted to duel him not for the fun or the challenge but for any variety of other reasons that seemed to suck the joy out of a duel even for him.

Eventually he had simply stopped giving his name unless he was asked and ignoring anyone who accused him of being a fraud. If that was what they wished to believe so be it, it was just another reason why he preferred to duel with children. He never refused to give advice or help to children. He had even helped a few put together decks that suited their personalities. He could see now why Alexis had chosen to be a teacher. If he hadn't had such an important task to finish he might have even considered joining her, but he was his generation's chosen warrior duelist and he did not have the luxury of choosing his own destiny.

Judai's mind drifted off into sleep and dreams. Dreams of duel magic, of children, of new cards and old decks, of kuribohs and heroes and of the one person who could help him find the answers he was looking for.

Judai awoke when the heat of the morning sun reached his eyes. For a single moment he was a Slifer Slacker looking forward to a day of dueling then the weight of the world settled on his shoulders and he opened his eyes. He ate a little breakfast and fed Pharaoh. It was a good thing the cat wasn't picky, Judai rarely had much variety in his meals while he was traveling.

As soon as he was done eating Judai started packing up his little camp. He was tempted to rush, he was anxious to reach the town, but he had learned the hard way the importance of being careful with possessions when traveling with so few. So Judai packed carefully and with precision making sure everything was in its place but as soon as he was done he took off towards the town at a run. The run felt good and it filled his body with energy but he was soon forced to slow down, the town was a ways away yet. He was enjoying the sun and the excitement that comes before a new adventure when a darkness suddenly gripped his heart. He stumbled. "What was that?" Yubel asked her voice full of concern and fear for her partner.

"I don't know, it felt like a warning but I'm not sure what it was warning of."

Yubel looked at her partner, "Maybe we should choose a different route, bypass the town."

Judai thought about it for a moment. "No, Winged Kuriboh said that this was the shortest path and if anything this is a sign that we should speed up our journey." The truth was Judai was desperate for interaction with corporeal humans and Yubel knew it but Judai kept up the pretense anyway. "We're also running low on food. I was hoping to pick up so more in the town. I don't think there's another one nearby." So they continued on but at a slower pace and Judai didn't seem quite as excited as before.

* * *

Isabel went with her brothers and the other village children to the edge of town. They knew it would be about mid day before the traveler reached them but they were too excited to sit at home. It was all their parents could do to keep them from running out to meet him on the road.

To pass the time a couple of boys started a duel. Jake was dueling against Robin. Jake was a good duelist but Robin was considered the best of the boys. Isabel watched the duel from behind Jake so that she could glimpse the cards in her brother's hand. He did well in the beginning of the duel starting out with some swift attacks that cost Robin over half his life points. Isabel thought for a moment that her brother would win. Robin was sure to attack Jake's Swordsman of Landstar on his next turn, if her brother set the trap card he was holding in his hand now he would be able to activate it when Robin attacked and win the match. His early success made Jake overconfident and sloppy, he forgot about protecting his own monsters and ended his turn without setting the trap. A few turns later Robin won.

Isabel put her hand over the deck hidden beneath her skirt. Sometimes the urge to challenge one of the boys and test her skill was almost overpowering. Her favorite card was Black Cat with White Tail, which she had affectionately dubbed Blaca Whit. At moments like this she could almost imagine Blaca Whit calling out to her almost pleading (though never quite, cats don't beg) with her to duel. But Isabel never did, her secret was too precious. Instead she watched the boys and eavesdropped on her father when he helped her brothers refine their decks.

While Isabel had been replaying the duel in her mind Jake had come and seated himself down next to her. Wrapped up in her own thoughts Isabel was completely oblivious to her brother's presence until his hand sneaked over towards the covered bowl she had carried with her. Suddenly her hand shot out with lightening reflexes and she wrapped her fingers around her brother's wrist.

"Oy! Sis no need to be so rough I just wanted a bite you know to console myself for losing." Isabel stared hard into her brother's eyes without letting go of his wrist.

"Find another way of consoling yourself, this here food is for the traveler and you are not getting a bite until he has had his share understand?" Her voice and eyes were so serious that Jake, who was several inches taller than his little sister, backed down. He decided now was not the time to antagonize Isabel, not when she was staring at him just like Mom. The resemblance was almost uncanny and it sent a shiver up his spine.

"Okay, Okay, I won't touch the food you can let go now." Isabel gave him one last glare then released his wrist and moved the bowl to her other side, just to show that she wasn't really trusting him. On the outside she looked haughty and threatening, but it was just for show. On the inside she was beaming, she loved exercising this kind of power over her brothers. She may be small but she had the spirit to make up for it.

The contest of wills between the siblings ended when Clara started shouting. "I can see him! He's wearing a duel disk and I think there's a cat with him." All the children gathered together to watch the stranger coming towards them.


	2. Bard

Judai had been plodding along eyes steady on the road beneath his feet, when he looked up he was surprised by the huddle of children at the edge of the town. He smiled the fear of the unknown darkness disappeared.

As had become his habit Judai took a quick glance at the cluster of children using his second vision. For a moment his warm brown eyes flickered and instead became a mismatched pair of orange and blue.

When looking through Yubel's eyes Judai could judge the power of a duelist. He had found that power did not always translate into skill. Power was something that duelists were born with skill was something they had to earn. Judai had examined many duelists for power but he had found very little power among duelists who had been born before the creation of Duel Monsters. As far as he could tell the frequency and strength of power among duelists had increased with each new generation with a possible spike among those born the same year he was. Recently he and Yubel had noticed that their magic went beyond gauging power levels, if they looked just a little closer they could sometimes identify other aspects of duel energy as well.

Looking at the children in the distance through his mismatched eyes, Judai picked out one child who could probably see spirits, another who seemed to be low on power but possibly very skilled and another who had enough raw power to be a duel warrior. His heart dropped a little when he noticed the last one. Duelists with that much power always seemed to attract trouble, look at what had happened to Zane. Judai sighed and let go of the second vision. His eyes turned back to their natural shade of brown.

From this distance Judai could see only the auras, he couldn't make out the children clearly enough to be able to tell which one was the potential duel warrior although he thought he had a pretty good idea as to which one could see spirits. Judai shook his head to clear away these thoughts, instead he thought of seeing the faces of the children, of meeting their parents and of the warm cooked meal he might be in for. With that last thought his feet sped up a little.

The children huddled together suddenly shy and unsure how to react to this stranger that they had spent all day waiting for. The cat that had been with him had suddenly run off but he did not seem concerned. He continued walking until he came to the cluster of little people, then he stopped.

"Hey, I'm Judai Yuki is there a place I nearby where I can get some food?" His voice was friendly and full of good humor, the children instinctively relaxed. Jake was the first to answer.

"My mother and sister made a picnic lunch for everyone to share but Isabel wouldn't let us touch it until you got here. I'm hungry. " He turned toward his sister a pleading look in his eyes, "He's here now can we eat." Isabel rolled her eyes at her brother. Then she turned to the traveler, Judai.

"It's not much just soup and sandwiches but we thought you might be hungry and to be honest we thought you might be interesting so Mama and I made enough to for everyone, so that we could eat with you. "

Judai smiled. He had been hoping for a warm reception but this was far more than he had expected. It felt so good to be among people again. He looked at the little dark haired girl. Her black hair and light purple eyes reminded him of a character in a video game he use play, Princess Edena. "I would be honored to eat a sandwich prepared by such a pretty little lady and I'll do my best to be interesting." He turned to the boy next to her.

"Sorry about the wait if I'd known I would have hurried." The boy more or less ignored him eyes focused on the bowl and basket his sister was carrying. A few minutes later everyone was seated and munching away happily. For a moment Judai forgot about everything except the food in front of him. It was delicious, he suddenly remembered Pharaoh and looked around but he saw no sign of the cat. He gave a little mental shrug. Pharaoh did what he wanted he would just have to find food on his own.

One of the younger boys noticed Judai's momentary distraction and leaped on the opportunity to start interrogating the visitor. He pointed to the duel disk on the young man's arm and asked, "Are you a duelist?"

It was becoming harder and harder to find someone who did not own a deck and wasn't familiar with the various strategies of Duel Monsters, but owning a deck or even a duel disk was not enough to make someone a "duelist." As the magic of the link had spread and strengthened the word had gained many subtle and complicated connotations but Judai knew that it would always apply to him, it was who he was. He smiled at the child, "Yes I am a duelist."

"Cool what kind of deck do you use? Are you a pro? What league are you with? Do you have any titles? Did you go to one of the academies? What's your favorite card? Can you help me with my deck?" Judai laughed and the flood of questions then proceeded to answer them. He answered their questions with as much truth and detail as he could mange but some of the questions weren't easy, especially the one about the favorite card. He had started to reach for Yubel but changed his mind at the last second, Yubel was a part of him but it was a hidden part of him, a secret between him and her so instead he showed them Winged Kuriboh and told them the story of his first day at Duel Academy.

Somehow that story lead to other stories about Duel Academy and stories about Duel Academy lead to stories about the shadow realm and the world of duel monsters and those stories lead to stories about the brave duel warriors both past and present. He was just getting to the climax of Yugi Moto and the Ceremonial Duel when he felt Yubel rub against his mind.

"You seem to have gathered quite a following" she said in her strange fluid voice. Judai suddenly distracted from the story looked around at his audience. In addition to the 15 or so kids that had made up the welcoming party there were now several older children who looked to be in their teens and even a couple of adults all quietly listening to him tell the story. He blinked in wonder, how could so many people have turned up without him noticing? Then he spotted the setting sun and realized that he had been speaking for quite some time. Presumably the older children had come looking for their younger siblings and gotten caught up listening to the story which had caused a few adults to come in search of their children but they too had stayed to listen. Judai felt his cheeks start to flush. He wasn't shy by a long shot but it was disconcerting to suddenly find himself at the center of so much attention.

"Well what happened next? Did the King of Games really defeat all three Egyptian God Cards? Did he beat um…himself?" Judai ignored the child's question still stunned at the unexpected size of the crowd around him.

Yubel nudged him, "Your fans are waiting, how did the King of Games defeat his alter ego?" Judai could have sworn she was laughing at him but he ignored it and went on with the story. He told them how Yugi Moto defeated the three Egyptian Gods and the Dark Magician in order to send his other self, the Pharaoh, back to the Spirit Realm and end the Shadow Games.

Again Judai was accosted by a flood of questions but this time one of the adults intervened for him.

"Come on Jake give this poor young man a break. I believe you have chores you should be doing." There moans and gasps as other children remembered chores and responsibilities. Slowly the crowd began to disperse.

The man walked over and greeted Judai. "My name is Bill Martinany. I'm the father of Isabel, Alan and Jake and I have to say I don't think I've ever seen Jake sit that still. You have some talent. We have a spare room in our house if you need a place to stay."

"Thank you, Mr. Marintany, I could use a place to stay for the night."

"Then you are welcome into my home it's this way." Pharaoh turned up and rubbed against Judai's legs just as he was turning to follow.

_Pharaoh_ Judai thought although he was thinking of a very different pharaoh from the one rubbing against his ankles.  _You sacrificed your life twice to end the shadow games._ Yubel's voice intruded on his thoughts.

_**You said the purpose of the Ceremonial Duel was to destroy the Millennium Items and end the shadow games, but you and I have participated in Shadow Games have we not?** _

_Yes,_ Judai responded,  _the King of Games failed, he gave his life for nothing._ With that sobering thought Judai set off after Mr. Martinany.

             

Judai had been plodding along eyes steady on the road beneath his feet, when he looked up he was surprised by the huddle of children at the edge of the town. He smiled the fear of the unknown darkness disappeared.

 

As had become his habit Judai took a quick glance at the cluster of children using his second vision. For a moment his warm brown eyes flickered and instead became a mismatched pair of orange and blue.

 

When looking through Yubel's eyes Judai could judge the power of a duelist. He had found that power did not always translate into skill. Power was something that duelists were born with skill was something they had to earn. Judai had examined many duelists for power but he had found very little power among duelists who had been born before the creation of Duel Monsters. As far as he could tell the frequency and strength of power among duelists had increased with each new generation with a possible spike among those born the same year he was. Recently he and Yubel had noticed that their magic went beyond gauging power levels, if they looked just a little closer they could sometimes identify other aspects of duel energy as well.

 

Looking at the children in the distance through his mismatched eyes, Judai picked out one child who could probably see spirits, another who seemed to be low on power but possibly very skilled and another who had enough raw power to be a duel warrior. His heart dropped a little when he noticed the last one. Duelists with that much power always seemed to attract trouble, look at what had happened to Zane. Judai sighed and let go of the second vision. His eyes turned back to their natural shade of brown.

 

From this distance Judai could see only the auras, he couldn't make out the children clearly enough to be able to tell which one was the potential duel warrior although he thought he had a pretty good idea as to which one could see spirits. Judai shook his head to clear away these thoughts, instead he thought of seeing the faces of the children, of meeting their parents and of the warm cooked meal he might be in for. With that last thought his feet sped up a little.

 

The children huddled together suddenly shy and unsure how to react to this stranger that they had spent all day waiting for. The cat that had been with him had suddenly run off but he did not seem concerned. He continued walking until he came to the cluster of little people, then he stopped.

 

"Hey, I'm Judai Yuki is there a place I nearby where I can get some food?" His voice was friendly and full of good humor, the children instinctively relaxed. Jake was the first to answer.

 

"My mother and sister made a picnic lunch for everyone to share but Isabel wouldn't let us touch it until you got here. I'm hungry. " He turned toward his sister a pleading look in his eyes, "He's here now can we eat." Isabel rolled her eyes at her brother. Then she turned to the traveler, Judai.

 

"It's not much just soup and sandwiches but we thought you might be hungry and to be honest we thought you might be interesting so Mama and I made enough to for everyone, so that we could eat with you. "

 

Judai smiled. He had been hoping for a warm reception but this was far more than he had expected. It felt so good to be among people again. He looked at the little dark haired girl. Her black hair and light purple eyes reminded him of a character in a video game he use play, Princess Edena. "I would be honored to eat a sandwich prepared by such a pretty little lady and I'll do my best to be interesting." He turned to the boy next to her.

 

"Sorry about the wait if I'd known I would have hurried." The boy more or less ignored him eyes focused on the bowl and basket his sister was carrying. A few minutes later everyone was seated and munching away happily. For a moment Judai forgot about everything except the food in front of him. It was delicious, he suddenly remembered Pharaoh and looked around but he saw no sign of the cat. He gave a little mental shrug. Pharaoh did what he wanted he would just have to find food on his own.

 

One of the younger boys noticed Judai's momentary distraction and leaped on the opportunity to start interrogating the visitor. He pointed to the duel disk on the young man's arm and asked, "Are you a duelist?"

 

It was becoming harder and harder to find someone who did not own a deck and wasn't familiar with the various strategies of Duel Monsters, but owning a deck or even a duel disk was not enough to make someone a "duelist." As the magic of the link had spread and strengthened the word had gained many subtle and complicated connotations but Judai knew that it would always apply to him, it was who he was. He smiled at the child, "Yes I am a duelist."

 

"Cool what kind of deck do you use? Are you a pro? What league are you with? Do you have any titles? Did you go to one of the academies? What's your favorite card? Can you help me with my deck?" Judai laughed and the flood of questions then proceeded to answer them. He answered their questions with as much truth and detail as he could mange but some of the questions weren't easy, especially the one about the favorite card. He had started to reach for Yubel but changed his mind at the last second, Yubel was a part of him but it was a hidden part of him, a secret between him and her so instead he showed them Winged Kuriboh and told them the story of his first day at Duel Academy.

 

Somehow that story lead to other stories about Duel Academy and stories about Duel Academy lead to stories about the shadow realm and the world of duel monsters and those stories lead to stories about the brave duel warriors both past and present. He was just getting to the climax of Yugi Moto and the Ceremonial Duel when he felt Yubel rub against his mind.

 

"You seem to have gathered quite a following" she said in her strange fluid voice. Judai suddenly distracted from the story looked around at his audience. In addition to the 15 or so kids that had made up the welcoming party there were now several older children who looked to be in their teens and even a couple of adults all quietly listening to him tell the story. He blinked in wonder, how could so many people have turned up without him noticing? Then he spotted the setting sun and realized that he had been speaking for quite some time. Presumably the older children had come looking for their younger siblings and gotten caught up listening to the story which had caused a few adults to come in search of their children but they too had stayed to listen. Judai felt his cheeks start to flush. He wasn't shy by a long shot but it was disconcerting to suddenly find himself at the center of so much attention.

 

"Well what happened next? Did the King of Games really defeat all three Egyptian God Cards? Did he beat um…himself?" Judai ignored the child's question still stunned at the unexpected size of the crowd around him.

 

Yubel nudged him, "Your fans are waiting, how did the King of Games defeat his alter ego?" Judai could have sworn she was laughing at him but he ignored it and went on with the story. He told them how Yugi Moto defeated the three Egyptian Gods and the Dark Magician in order to send his other self, the Pharaoh, back to the Spirit Realm and end the Shadow Games.

 

Again Judai was accosted by a flood of questions but this time one of the adults intervened for him.

 

"Come on Jake give this poor young man a break. I believe you have chores you should be doing." There moans and gasps as other children remembered chores and responsibilities. Slowly the crowd began to disperse.

 

The man walked over and greeted Judai. "My name is Bill Martinany. I'm the father of Isabel, Alan and Jake and I have to say I don't think I've ever seen Jake sit that still. You have some talent. We have a spare room in our house if you need a place to stay."

 

"Thank you, Mr. Marintany, I could use a place to stay for the night."

 

"Then you are welcome into my home it's this way." Pharaoh turned up and rubbed against Judai's legs just as he was turning to follow.

 

_Pharaoh_ Judai thought although he was thinking of a very different pharaoh from the one rubbing against his ankles.  _You sacrificed your life twice to end the shadow games._ Yubel's voice intruded on his thoughts.

 

_**You said the purpose of the Ceremonial Duel was to destroy the Millennium Items and end the shadow games, but you and I have participated in Shadow Games have we not?** _

 

_Yes,_ Judai responded,  _the King of Games failed, he gave his life for nothing._ With that sobering thought Judai set off after Mr. Martinany.

  
   
  



	3. Teacher

Judai lay absolutely still on the spare bed in the Martinany household, listening to the voices in his head all clambering to be heard. He took a moment to reflect on what it had been like before he'd entered Duel Academy and the only voice in his head had been his own. Sometimes reflecting on that time in his life seemed incredibly lonely at other times, like now, it seemed like bliss. He sighed and turned his attention back to the voices. The argument was over whether they should continue on their journey the next morning or spend a few days in the town.

Winged Kuriboh wanted to move on as soon as possible, he was anxious to reach the person they were supposed to meet. Judai had never seen the adorable little furball quite so agitated.

Neos, ever the hero, wanted to stay and investigate the meaning behind the dark premonition Judai had experienced on the way here. He felt it was their duty to prevent whatever was coming.

Poor Yubel was split between the two. Her first priority was to protect Judai and she therefore wanted him as far away as possible from whatever hidden dangers might be lurking in this little town. On the other hand she was dreading the meeting they were headed towards, she knew it was necessary but that hadn't stopped her from delaying them every chance she got and this would be an excellent opportunity to squeeze out an extra few days.

Judai listened to them all, Yubel's soft liquid voice, Neos's strong commanding tones and Winged Kuriboh's friendly chirps and whistles but in the end it was his decision, it always came down to his decision.

"We'll stay for a few days if we can, but we won't investigate anything, we'll just wait and see what happens. Now please let me get some sleep."

Judai rolled over and closed his eyes, the spirits that had been clamoring away just a moment ago diffused.

If Judai had opened his eyes again he would have seen two small purple eyes, wide with shock, staring at him from the door way but he didn't and the child hurried nervously back to bed.

* * *

Bill Martinany had been a child when Duel Monsters first started gaining popularity. At first he had just ignored it as a fad that had become popular among the nerdier of his peers, but eventually it became a fad that was impossible to ignore. He'd been attending high school in Domino when the Battle City Tournament was held. He still wasn't interested in the game but by the time Yugi Moto defeated Marik Ishtar, he was familiar with the rules and basic strategies though he never planned to use this knowledge. He figured the fad would die away soon enough.

It didn't. It hung around gaining popularity and importance as time went on. It was no longer just a game, it was a test of character, a sacred battle ritual, a supreme form of entertainment and so much more. What was once just a card game was now serious business.

Bill Martinany had bought his first deck shortly after Seto Kaiba announced the opening of Duel Academy. He quickly became very attached to his cards in a way he couldn't explain or even understand. They weren't just cards, they were tools, no they were allies. Allies. Part of his mind told him it was absurd to give such a word to pretty pictures printed on cardboard surrounded by hard plastic but somehow that part of his mind got drowned out by the less rational parts of his psyche.

He watched as society reordered itself to accommodate this almost viral card game. He wasn't great at the game and Duel Monsters was never more to him than a game he was oddly found of but he was a smart man and he knew by now that Duel Monsters was not going to fade away. Indeed it seemed as if dueling was going to become an almost essential life skill and he wanted his sons to excel. He could only teach them so much however, and their little town didn't contain a resident great duelist.

When Bill Martinany had walked to the edge of town looking for his missing children the first thing he had noticed was that Jake and Alan were  _sitting still,_  a particularly unusual occurrence for Jake. The second thing he noticed was the duel disk strapped to the arm of the young man in the center of the circle of children.

It bore the trademark Duel Academy rings; the inner ring was red and the outer gold. If he remembered correctly the Red Dorm was the lowest in the Duel Academy hierarchy so the kid probably hadn't graduated top of his class but the gold ring signaled that he had indeed graduated so he had to have some skill. Seto Kaiba didn't let just anybody graduate from his school. Besides that the man clearly had a talent for connecting with children and a good working knowledge of the history of Duel Monsters.

Before Bill Martinany had made it back home he had made up his mind to offer the traveler a job as a duel tutor even if just for a few weeks.

* * *

Judai Yuki was up with the sunrise. There was a time when he would have been horrified to be awake so early but early rising was one of the side effects of sleeping in the open so often. It was hard to sleep with the sun glaring down at you with an accusatory stare. Eventually rising with the sun had become a habit.

As was also his habit, he took his deck and spread the cards out flipping them over one by one. The ability to see duel auras wasn't the only ability Judai had noticed after fusing with Yubel. He could also see the balance of his deck in an almost tangible sense. Sometimes the cards would seem to glow and sometimes they would seem to fade. Judai would take out the faded cards and replace them with cards from his reserves until his deck was balanced.

Unlike the ability to see duel auras, which had undoubtedly come from Yubel, Judai suspected that the power to see the connections between his cards and to know when to replace them was a power he had always processed. His natural intuition had simply been enhanced when he accepted his role as Supreme King.

Judai was surprised to find his deck so out of balance this morning. It had been in perfect condition yesterday. It took much longer than normal to get his cards to hum together in harmony. It didn't help that Neos got offended when he took out most of the neospacians and replaced them with some of the oldest cards in his reserves.

Yubel was also upset at the changes Judai made.

"That makes no sense" she objected, "why are you replacing your most powerful cards? There look you just destroyed the possibility of a powerful combo for what? A few much simpler weaker combos? Why?"

Judai ignored her. He didn't know why the deck wanted to be altered he just knew it did and he always trusted his deck.

Neos and Yubel were still feeling a little put out and resentful when Mr. Martinany offered Judai the job of being a duel tutor over breakfast and he accepted. Judai agreed to stay for two weeks before heading off again. Mr. Martinany had been hoping for a bit longer but he was willing to take what he could get.

It wasn't until after the details of the arrangement had been hashed out that Neos and Yubel realized the deck Judai had put together that morning was perfect for teaching young inexperienced duelists. He had taken out the Neospacians because they were too unique, the contact fusion they relied on was too uncommon to be a valuable strategy to most duelists, and he had replaced some of his most powerful combos with weaker ones that were easier for an opponent to anticipate but also easier for a student to follow.

Winged Kuriboh reprimanded them in squeaky little chirps for having doubted. The two powerful duel spirits squirmed a little at being told off by a weak little fuzz ball but neither of them denied that they deserved it, they just didn't admit.

* * *

There were about twelve boys ranging from about 6 to 14 in Judai's "class". The first thing Judai did was pair them up for practice duels. He got them all started before stepping into the shadows where he could watch the duels but no one would notice the change in his eyes.

Most of the boys were unremarkable, their sparks of duel energy indicated average power and average potential but there were two who stood out.

One of the older boys, Judai was pretty sure his name was Alan, had an aura that was a particular shade of blue, the same shade of blue as Johan's hair. Judai was almost certain that this boy could see duel spirits although it was a tossup as to whether or not the boy had realized this ability yet.

The second remarkable boy was less noticeable, it was clear that he possessed very little duel magic but it was also clear that he made great use of what he had. The spark that represented his duel energy had been kneaded and stretched so that its owner could squeeze out every last drop of potential. This boy, Robin, had an aura that resembled the auras of Aster, Alexis and Cyrus all very skilled duelists.

Judai scanned the boys again looking for the duel warrior he had noticed as he was walking into town. The duel warrior was one of the major reasons he had agreed to this job. He knew from personal experience the damage that could be caused by duelists with that much power but no guidance, just look at Fujiwara Yusuke.

Judai scanned the duelists a third time before admitting that none of them even came close to having enough power to be the duel warrior.

"Could we have been mistaken?" Yubel asked. "We were a long way off maybe it was just a group of duelists clustered together."

Judai shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know but I'm going to keep our eyes out just in case."

Judai blinked and his eyes returned to their normal shade of brown. He stepped out of the shadows and asked Robin to assist him as he gave a demonstration in the proper use of polymerization.

 

 


	4. Searcher

Jake listened closely as his teacher told them another exciting tale of one of the heroic duel warriors. The two-week duel class was on its third day and so far each of the classes had ended with at least one story about famous duelists who had fought epic battles using trading cards.

Today's story involved a duel to the death (well almost) between Joey Wheeler and a guy named Valon. Apparently they were dueling over a girl which Jake thought was pretty pathetic but he figured the pure awesomeness of a card that could capture people's souls and a dragon named Hermos offset the patheticness factor. Besides that, assuming the teacher's version was accurate, the duel itself had been spectacular.

When the story ended Jake shouted excitedly, "I want to be a great duel warrior one day and fight shadow games and save the world!"

The teacher turned to look at Jake. Earlier the teacher's eyes had been pure brown and full of joy but now, possibly due to a trick of the setting sun, his brown eyes seemed flecked with bits of gold and burdened with the weight of the world. "Are you sure?"

**T** he eyes and the question sent a shiver up Jake's spine and suddenly he wasn't sure.

* * *

It had been three days but Judai still hadn't located the duel warrior. He had asked around but no one knew of any young duelist not already in the class.

He watched as the young duelists and the others who had come to listen to the end of class story drifted off each heading off towards home. Only one child lingered, the one Judai had asked to stay behind.

Judai smiled as he watched the spirit standing at the boy's shoulder.

"What does Sir Loyalheart think about my asking you to stay?"

"He's not sure what you want but he believes you are a worthy teacher and that I should trust you." Alan answered automatically, then he seemed to realize what it was he had said and looked horrified. A blush crept up into his cheeks.

"How did you know that I sometimes imag…that I preten.." Alan left off looking completely embarrassed.

"You're not pretending or imagining things. You can see duel spirits. I can too and I've known a couple of other duelists who could as well. It's a useful ability." Judai's tone was completely matter of fact.

He watched as the boy's face twisted reflecting the turmoil within as new ideas overtook old assumptions. Then suddenly the muscles in Alan's face relaxed as everything fell into place, memories made more sense, buried truths rose to the surface and Alan accepted Judai's words as truth.

Judai was thankful Alan had accepted his abilities so quickly; right now the boy's ability was his best hope of finding the duel warrior before it was too late to be of any help.

"Alan what can you see to my left?"

"Winged Kuriboh, he's floating by your shoulder."

"Good, you can see the spirits of the cards of others as well as your own. Most duelists have a card that they are especially attached to and if you look carefully you'll sometimes see the spirit of that card hanging around their duelist watching over them." Judai started walking back towards the Martinany household and Alan followed listening carefully to everything his teacher told him. "I have reason to believe that there was a duelist among my welcoming party that hasn't been coming to the duel lessons, I need to find this duelist and I think you can help me."

"How? You said you see spirits too, what do you need me for?"

"Duel Spirits aren't  _always_  visible. I've been watching but I haven't spotted one near anyone not already in the class but I've only been here for a couple of days, you've spent your whole life here. Can you recall noticing something that could have been a spirit around anyone who was with you the day I arrived but is not in the class?"

Alan was silent as he shifted through his memories looking at them through the veil of this new knowledge. Images he had previously thought to be illusions or dreams gained new significance. He remembered the night that he had seen Winged Kuriboh, Neos and a creature he did not recognize huddled around Judai's bed. He remembered the times he had seen Robin's shadow suddenly turn into a dragon. He remembered seeing many spirits but most of them had been around the boys in his class and the rest had been connected to older kids or adults who had been too busy to spend a day at the edge of town waiting for a stranger. He couldn't think of anyone who fit that description…except...

"I…I'm not sure but…sometimes I've imagined…or I guess I might of seen a black cat hanging around my sister but she doesn't duel. She doesn't even have a deck."

"Thank you Alan, please tell me if you remember any other possibilities. Now we had better get inside before your parents start to worry."

Alan looked up. He hadn't even realized they'd reached his house he'd be so absorbed with his thoughts.

* * *

His sister. A girl. That would make sense. It would explain why the duelist hadn't showed up to his class and why none of the boys in the class were aware of the duelist. If it turned out Alan's sister wasn't the one he was looking for it would probably still make sense to shift the focus of his search to the young girls.

Judai waited until after the family had finished dinner. He stood in a shadowy corner and watched Isabel help her mother with the dishes. His brown eyes flickered to become the mismatched pair of blue and orange then they just as quickly flicked back to brown but this time the brown eyes were brimming with tears. The light had been so bright it hurt his eyes.

He sensed a little jealousy from Yubel's direction that someone else had caused him pain. She had mostly gotten over her sadistic ideas about pain equaling love that had come out of the trauma of her space flight but every once in while she still had strange reactions that hearkened back to those dark days. Judai didn't fight it, he figured the jealousy might actually be better than the anger which would probably be Yubel's next alternative.

Judai walked towards his room, eyes still stinging. He had found the duel warrior, now he just had to figure out what to do with the information.


	5. Revealer

Judai waited until he and Isabel were alone to confront her.

"Isabel, would you mind if I looked at your deck?" Judai's tone was casual but Isabel's reaction wasn't.

Her posturing switched immediately to defensive, her body stiffened, her eyes narrowed and a black spirit cat appeared at her ankles.

Isabel opened her mouth to deny that she had a deck but she found she couldn't. She had lied before to her brothers and occasionally to her parents but she had never before lied about her deck. She had kept her secret only because no one had ever thought to ask. Instead of denying she deflected.

"What makes you think I have a deck?"

"You're a duelist, all duelists have decks."

She tried to deny that she was a duelist but again the words wouldn't come out.

"I've never dueled anyone."

"Really? I've never heard of a duelist who didn't duel but I suppose it's possible. But a duelist must have a deck and I'd really like to take a look at yours."

This response just confused Isabel. Almost involuntarily her hand slipped to the pocket on the inside of her skirt where she kept her deck. She could feel the cards calling out to her begging her to reveal their presence. Always before she had resisted their pleas but this time she gave in. Slowly she took out her deck and handed it to Judai.

Isabel's deck was centered around the monster card Sorceress Serafina. Most of the cards in the deck were designed to summon her to the field and to protect and strengthen her once she was there. The cat (who at that moment was watching Winged Kuriboh with a look in its eye that made the fluffy duel monster hide behind his master) was the spirit of the card Black Cat with White Tail, the Sorceress's familiar.

Judai handed the deck back to Isabel.

"Your deck is well put together but the strength of a deck is determined by the duelist. Do you believe in your cards Isabel?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you duel?"

Isabel looked distinctly uncomfortable but she didn't answer.

Judai studied the little girl before him. Duel Warriors attracted trouble and often that trouble was not limited to them. He thought of all the trouble Fujiwara and Sartorius had caused. Of all the trouble  _he_  had caused.

Maybe if she refused to duel the trouble would not come. As soon as the thought occurred to him Judai dismissed it. It was an amazing testament to her level of self control that Isabel had managed to refrain from dueling for this long but one day she would crack. It simply wasn't possible to keep that much energy pent up forever and the longer she tried the more explosive and devastating the results would be when she finally did give in. He was going to have to convince Isabel to duel, preferably before he left.

Judai let out a sigh.

"Isabel you've been listening to my stories haven't you? All of them are true. Every so often the power of Duel Monsters awakens some kind of deeper magic and trouble happens and it's up to those duelists who've been given power to stop or at least control the damage and destruction. You have power Isabel. Whether you like it or not you are one of the chosen Duel Warriors and for some reason I have decided that I am going to be the one to train you. I might be able to limit the damage you're going to cause and the pain you're going to go through but I have to leave in eleven days so we don't have a lot of time. I don't know why you don't duel but whatever the reason is you're just going to have to get over it. I'm going to go ask your parents if you can join my class you can stay here or come with me."

Judai walked out of the room.

Isabel watched him go her mind gridlocked.

Then the last few words he'd said shifted in to making sense and she hurried after him horrified.

Isabel reached the kitchen just in time to hear Judai greet her parents.

"Mr. and Mrs. Martinany I would like your daughter to join my dueling class."

The Martinanies looked a little confused. It was Bill who answered first.

"If she's interested I don't see why not but we'd have to buy her a deck and won't she be behind?"

"Your daughter already has a deck. She has apparently been building it in secret. As to being behind…I don't think you need to worry about that. I have a feeling she's a very bright little girl. All the same I would like her to start as soon as possible."

Bill was stuck on the idea that his daughter had a deck but his wife, Anne, was focused on the flattering idea that this man believed her daughter to be uncommonly bright.

Anne already knew that Isabel had been collecting cards. She'd never really understood why the game was taken so seriously but she knew that it was and she'd been pleased that her daughter was taking an interest in it. She had waited for her to come and tell her that she wanted to be a duelist after she had first noticed her collecting cards but she hadn't. Anne had been disappointed but willing to let her daughter keep her secret if that was the way she wanted it.

Bill blinked a few times before noticing Isabel standing in the door way. He looked at his daughter.

"Sweetie do you have a Duel Monsters' deck?"

The small black-haired head gave a very nervous nod.

The confused look on Bill's face deepened.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

The answer came in a barely audible whisper.

"Girls don't duel."

"Who told you that?"

Isabel shrugged. She didn't actually remember being told that girls didn't duel she'd just never heard of any girls dueling except that one traveler but she'd been a foreigner.

"Isabel, honey, look at me. Do you want to learn to duel?"

Isabel's light purple eyes filled with tears and her voice filled with sudden passion.

"Yes, yes I want to duel. I want to be a duelist. I want to summon Serafina to the field and watch her blast away her opponent. I want to show the boys I'm every bit as good as they are. I want to feel the rush of competition and the taste of victory!"

Anne Martinany looked at her daughter with amusement.

"You really should have said something sooner. You go with Judai and show those boys how it's done. But be careful. Don't humiliate them too much, boys have fragile egos."

Bill gave his wife an injured look.

Anne nodded towards her husband, "See what I mean?"

Isabel let out a small smile. How could it be this easy? All those years of hiding and smuggling and all she'd had to do was say something. She stood still for a moment absorbing this abrupt change in her perception of the world. Suddenly the true meaning of the morning's events hit her. She was going to duel!

Excitement and panic hit her waves.

She was going to duel!


	6. Rescuer

All twelve of the boys were waiting when Judai arrived with Isabel at his heels. As they had gotten closer to the square where the lesson would be held she had drawn closer to him as though hoping he could hide her.

Judai did not understand shyness. He had never experienced it and therefore had no sympathy or empathy for it. So it wasn't really his fault that he failed to notice the mortified look on the little girl's face when he announced without preamble that they would be starting class with a duel between Robin and Isabel.

Jake, as usual, was the first to speak. "Izzy's never dueled before she can't beat Robin, she doesn't have a chance, she'll be crushed, humiliated!" It was hard to tell from his expression whether Jake was excited or horrified by this idea to tell the truth both emotions were warring within him. Brothers.

Judai surveyed his class.

"I'm here to teach you how to become better duelists and right now I think the best way to do that is to watch Robin and Isabel duel."

He looked at Jake. "I think your sister will surprise you."

This vote of confidence strengthened Isabel's resolve. She was a duelist and she would prove it. She had carefully studied the all of the boys' strategies as well as the strategies of more famous duelists. She had painstakingly built her deck one card at a time and she believed in each and every one of them. She could do this.

Isabel and Robin stepped forward and traded decks for shuffling.

Unlike Isabel, Robin had no obvious theme or ace. His deck was made up mostly of a wide range of low to middling level monsters that didn't seem to belong together at all. That was until you saw them in action. Robin often imagined himself as a cog, the centerpiece holding the cards together so that they worked in harmony.

The two duelists handed the shuffled decks back to their opponent.

Isabel loaded her deck and activated the duel disc she had been loaned with surprising ease and familiarity. (She'd been practicing with Jake and Alan's disc in secret for months.)

She drew.

Robin drew.

The duel began.

Jake was indeed surprised by his sister's performance. Even Judai was a little surprised and the pure strength of her spirit. Her magic was glowing so brightly he could almost see it even without shifting his eyes.

Both of the young duelists fought furiously to gain the advantage. Both came very close to winning several times only to be thwarted by a clever move at the last second.

By the time Robin finally managed to reduce Isabel's life points to zero they were both panting and looking far more exhausted than any children should after playing a card game.

Judai looked at the eleven boys who had been watching the duel with open mouths. He smiled.

"That is why you never underestimate your opponent."

The boys blinked.

"Now who can name all the different classifications of spell cards?"

* * *

Isabel and Robin both kept quiet during Judai's quizzing. They were both still feeling rather drained. Robin kept glancing curiously at the girl next to him. He had known her his whole life, he'd even spent nights at her house dueling her brothers but now she seemed like a total stranger. The duel he had just won had been by far the most difficult he had ever played. The attacks had even seemed somehow more real than normal. There were no marks on his arm but he could swear he could almost feel the spot where that darn cat had dug her claws in.

Isabel ached but her lavender eyes were bright with excitement. Dueling was every bit as exhilarating as she'd imagined it to be. She hadn't expected it to be so tiring though. She had been embarrassed when she flinched away from Robin's Black Crow's direct attack. She'd never seen her brothers flinch. Her pride was revenged, however, when Robin yelped after the hologram of Blaca Whit "scratched" him.

Sure she'd lost but she had fought well, she knew she had. She could feel it in her core, this was who she was, who she was meant to be. Isabel Cecil Martinany was a duelist!

Judai kept an eye on Robin and Isabel throughout his lecture on the various uses of spell cards. (He almost wished Crowler could see him now, the Slifer Slacker delivering a lecture.)

By the time he separated them for practice duels (Alan dueling with 8000 life points against two paired duelists due to the now odd numbered class) both Isabel and Robin seemed to have recovered their strength and Judai had paired them together again.

All of the practice duels were to be done on playing mats instead of with the duel disks so that everyone could duel at the same time. It also had the added advantage of allowing Judai to see how the duelists performed when they were not in touch with their power. He had noticed some time ago that anyone with even the tiniest spark of duel magic would automatically access it when dueling with holograms but even duelists with vast reserves of power tended to leave it dormant when playing with mats.

Banner, of course, had a theory. He supposed that the power was not meant to be accessed unless the monsters were real like they were in the shadow or spirit realms. The holograms didn't make the monsters real but they did give a rather convincing illusion of reality which was enough to activate the duel magic. Simple playing cards, on the other hand, were not nearly as convincing so the magic stayed under wraps. There was nothing that actually stopped the duelists from using their power all the time except that most of them weren't even aware they had power.

Judai was doing his best to keep an eye on all the duelists and not just the pair he was truly interested in, but he was still hovering around the area where Robin and Isabel had chosen to set up when loud bickering started and he found himself pulled away to mediate the fight.

* * *

Isabel spent a lot of time reading and a lot of time alone. She had always had a very fertile imagination and the time she spent reading had only helped to sharpen and focus her ability to visualize fantastic possibilities. She had learned to duel by herself by carefully piecing and holding together all the possibilities of a game in her head. The time she spent alone meant she had gotten good at making up games to entertain herself, being the girl that she was most of these games were pretend games usually with Sorceress Serafina at their center. All of this meant that by the time Robin had laid out the mat and both of the young duelists had shuffled their decks Isabel already had a perfectly imagined battle field set up in her head and by the time she summoned her first monster her magic had already activiated.

Robin was not imaginative in the same way Isabel was but he did have the mind of an inventor. His mind was flexible and always exploring new theories and possibilities. He often spent time designing new inventions entirely in his head before carefully sketching them on paper. All this meant that when Isabel's magic reached into his mind and presented him with the picture of the battlefield that she had put together his mind was equipped to accept it and it did activating his own duel magic.

* * *

Judai settled the quarrel between Alan and his two opponents about how exactly a three way duel was suppose to work and turned back towards Isabel and Robin.

He knew immediately that something was wrong.

Their hands were moving drawing cards and manipulating the ones already on the field but they never once looked at what they were doing. Their eyes stared straight ahead vacantly into space and they were completely silent except for the occasional whimper or hiss of pain.

Not caring whether anyone saw he quickly shifted to his second vision, he needed to see what was going on. The two duelists were surrounded in a sphere of magical energy that was so bright it hurt his eyes but he did not look away, he had to know what was going on. His eyes adjusted until he could see through the sphere. He saw the battlefield where the Sorceress was making her stand against King Jack.

They were playing this duel in another realm. It didn't look like the shadow realm, it was too bright but he was also pretty sure it wasn't the spirit realm just what kind of magic was Isabel using? Was she using the power of the Light?

At the mere thought of this possibility Yubel started to scream in agony as all her nightmares and traumatic memories came flooding back to her at once. Judai's eyes flickered back to brown as she retreated.

Judai wasn't sure how the game was being played but he knew it couldn't end well. These kind of games always had a price, problem was stopping the game could be even more dangerous. There was only one option and he wasn't even sure it would work. He fingered the two cards in his pocket and looked towards his spirit friend.

The round dark eyes stared back at him ready to do what needed to be done just awaiting the order.

Judai pulled the card Winged Kuriboh from his pocket and used it to call forth his friend. The monster took off as soon as he appeared heading straight for the air in between the two duelists.

What happened next is hard to describe the best words Judai could think of later was that there was an explosion of silence. Breaking into the game destroyed Winged Kuriboh but due to his special effect Isabel, Robin and Judai were all unharmed.

Judai had been connected to the winged spirit for five years and the sudden destruction of that connection hurt. There was a way to fix this but he wasn't sure he had the strength, a third of his soul was screaming in agony and a piece of his heart felt like it was dying. It was taking all of his strength just to remain silently standing but he couldn't leave his friend to such a fate.

Judai's eyes turned solid gold with power. He stood up straight and pulled the second card from his pocket.

"I activate Monster Reborn to bring back Winged Kuriboh."

He waited. For an awful moment he was afraid that it wouldn't work that the power of the card did not apply to this situation.

Then Winged Kuriboh popped back into existence looking a little scared but none the worse for wear.

Judai sighed with relief and the gold slowly left his eyes. His shout had attracted everyone's attention. All eyes were on him and the brown bundle of fur next to him.

He smiled weakly.

"I think that's all for class today." Then he collapsed.

 


	7. Patient

Winged Kuriboh whistled with concern over his fallen master. His attention was so completely on his master and it was so rare that anyone else could see him anyway, that he was completely caught off guard when to hands reached out to capture him.

He managed to avoid the hands at the last second and he quickly flapped his wings to gain altitude.

He was not use to having a physical body and quite frankly flapping was hard work and all those eyes staring at him made him nervous and he really wanted to go back to being a spirit but he couldn't.

Normally if his master wanted him to be solid he summoned him by his wish but this time he had not been summoned by his master's wish but by his master's spell and so he could not leave until he was dismissed. Unfortunately his master was in no state to dismiss him. He whistled again with worry.

"Now you've gone and scared him! Poor fellow. Winged Kuriboh, do you remember me? It's Alan. It's okay you can come to me I'll protect you."

Winged Kuriboh looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a boy with purple eyes, Sir Loyalheart's master. The boy was calling him. He didn't really want to move away from his master but he couldn't hover here forever.

In a moment of decision he glided towards the boy landing on his shoulder.

The look in Alan's eye made it clear that no one else would be touching the small winged creature while it was under his protection.

"We need to get someone to help teacher. Robin why don't y-" Alan suddenly caught sight of his friend and changed direction mid word.

"Jake go get Robin's dad." Normally Jake wouldn't have taken commands from his brother so easily, but so far today had been anything but normal. He set off at a run.

Alan glanced nervously at his sister she looked so weak and helpless. He wanted to run to her and care for her, to protect her but he knew that if he did so he would also draw attention to her and Robin and he sensed that that would be a bad idea. So he instead overruled his protective instincts and sought a way to distract the rest of his classmates. He looked at his fallen teacher then started directing efforts to make him more comfortable.

* * *

Isabel and Robin were leaning against a wall. Neither of them was sure how exactly they got to the wall but then again they really didn't care. The wall was the only thing holding them up.

Both children were unnaturally pale and their eyes seemed almost hollow. They were in a state of shock and they stayed that way until warm strong arms scooped them up and carried them away. Then they began to cry.

They cried completely unaware of their surroundings until they sobbed themselves to sleep.

* * *

The first thing Judai did after regaining consciousness was check on the state of his soul. He was relieved to find that Yubel's panic attack had subsided during the relative tranquility of unconsciousness. She really should see a therapist but even in a world where scientists accept that there are other realms inhabited by duel spirits it is hard to explain to a therapist that a third of your soul is suffering from PTSD because you sent it on a space flight where it was tortured from exposure to evil light waves.

Suddenly Judai remembered what had caused Yubel's break down. He set straight up, which turned out to be a not so good idea. Everything seemed to be spinning. It took a couple of moments for everything to settle down enough that he could tell where he was, but he didn't really care where he was. He needed to know if Winged Kuriboh was alright.

He thought he remembered seeing him right before he passed out but he wasn't sure. His desperate silent question was answered when a ball of brown fluffy fur with feathery wings slammed into his cheek.

He hugged the fluffy ball being careful of the wings. He looked into those big round eyes fully aware of the chance this little creature had taken, of the sacrifice it had been willing to make.

"I thank you for your service, you can go home now."

To most of the occupants of the room the creature suddenly disappeared but to Judai he just looked a little less solid.

Judai took a deep breath. Everything was back where it belonged. He exhaled.

He looked around the room noticing for the first time that he was sitting on a bed and that he was not alone.

He blinked a few times adjusting to his surroundings. Then he jumped out of the bed. A man with spiky black hair objected to this.

"Slow down son, you need to rest it's too soon for you to be getting up."

Judai ignored the man as he ignored everyone who gave him that advice.

"I'm sorry Doctor…"

"Doctor Fudo"

"I'm sorry Dr. Fudo but I need to find my cat." With that Judai ran out of the room.

Dr. Fudo blinked. He turned to Mr. Martinany who shrugged. Obviously the boy had hit his head harder than they had thought.


	8. Student

The doctor briefly considered calling the boy back and demanding an explanation but he decided against it. Somehow he didn't think it would do any good. Instead he went to check on his son and his friend's daughter. He was relieved to find both children sleeping soundly. Their young faces showed no signs of the shock and trauma that had been present only moments before. The resiliency of children never failed to amaze him.

He still had no idea what had happened to his son. Bill had tried questioning the other boys in the class but their accounts had been jumbled and incoherent. The only thing they seemed to agree upon was that Judai had collapsed after the strange winged creature had shown up. Bill, remembering a night long ago when many such creatures had appeared accompanied by green glowing rocks, had tried to insist that his eldest son put it down and back away. Alan, however, had refused insisting that the creature was harmless and Bill had eventually given in.

They would just have to wait for Judai to come back and explain.

* * *

Judai went over the duel in his head as he searched for Pharaoh.

The more he thought about it the less likely it seemed that the girl was an agent of the light. The power he had felt just didn't seem like the same power he had experienced when he'd dueled Aster and Sartorius.

But what were the other options? There hadn't been even a hint of darkness or shadows and his own duel energy was so in tune with the Spirit World that he was sure he would immediately recognize any power coming from there. He was pretty sure whatever it was that Isabel had done wasn't anything he'd ever seen before which brought him back to Pharaoh. He needed to find the cat.

He found Pharaoh curled up on a patch of grass sunbathing. He crept forward slowly and started to scratch him behind the ears. When the cat started purring he switch to stroking until he turned over on his back then he started tickling his chin and muttering, "Banner, Professor, are you there?"

Eventually the tickling caused Pharaoh to yawn and Judai watched as a floating yellow orb drifted out of the feline's mouth. He listened as a familiar voice spoke.

"Judai I was napping, it's not easy for a disembodied soul to nap. Nya"

Judai ignored the complaints of his former professor and started describing Isabel and her duel with Robin. The dead alchemist quickly forgot his annoyance and grew excited at this hint of new magic.

"Interesting I believe this warrior may b-" Banner was interrupted and swallowed by his cat, or at least what use to be his cat nowadays it was more like he was Pharaoh's pet spirit.

Judai waited until Pharaoh had settled down again and repeated the scratch, stroke, tickle routine until Banner was again released.

"Yes, anyway as I was saying I think this child may be a new brand of duel warrior but there is not enough evidence to be sure. She'll need to duel again."

Judai nodded. "I'll have to be the one to duel her, I can't ask anyone else to after what happened last time and it's the best way to control the outcome anyway. I'll have to find a way to end the duel without damage to anyone involved."

Banner had time for just a few last words before he was again swallowed by the ginger cat. "Remember, all magic comes with a price."

Judai thought about those words as he headed back into town. Magic always comes with a price. In order to summon the seal of orrichalcos one of the players must pay with their soul. The loser of a shadow game paid the cost of the game by suffering a penalty game. The price of wielding the power of the light was free will, the more you used it the more control you surrendered. Even his spirit magic came with a price tag. When a spirit crossed over a bond was formed between spirit and duelist that could not be easily broken and whenever Judai summoned one of those spirits he lost some of his duel energy.

The question was what price was demanded of Isabel? Judai sped up. He needed to find out what had happened from the perspective of the duelists.

* * *

Isabel woke up slowly. At first she was simply aware that she was warm and comfortable but gradually her awareness increased and she realized she was awake. For a long moment she chose not to do anything with this information. She kept her eyes closed and simply enjoyed the moment. She wished that she could stay that way but something was bothering her something wasn't right. She did a quick inventory. Nothing hurt, she didn't feel tired, she wasn't hungry but she was…empty? No, that wasn't right, something was just off.

With a sigh she opened her eyes and looked around. She was surprised to find she was not in her room. She was even more surprised to find Dr. Fudo hovering over her and when Judai came bursting through the door she just gave up trying to understand the situation.


	9. Guardian

As soon as they were assured that their children were alright, the Martinanies and Dr. Fudo turned on Judai demanding an explanation. Judai attempted to give them one.

He explained about duel energy and warriors, magic and spirits as best he could which wasn't very well. He'd never been very good at explaining things and his muddled attempt left the adults feeling more confused than comforted.

Mr. and Mrs. Martinany wore identical expressions of skepticism but Dr. Fudo looked down right angry.

"Telling these fanciful stories about dueling and magic is all very well when you're entertaining a bunch of children but if you think you can use them to hide whatever it was you did to my son then you had better think again. I will not tolerate such blatant lies. You will tell me what you did to my son and you will tell me NOW!" The doctor slammed his fist on the table to emphasize the last word.

Judai turned towards the man all doubt gone from his face. His soft brown eyes turned hard gold. "I assure you I am not making any of this up. I am the Supreme King also known as The Haou. I carry the power of darkness and the alliance of the Neospacians. I have fused my soul with the soul of my protector Yubel. If you choose not to believe me I have some friends who can help convince you."

The doctor opened his mouth to say it would take more than some fancy eye trick to convince him but he found he couldn't quite form the words. The truth was there was power behind the young man's words. His mind had yet to be convinced but his soul recognized the power and respected it, so he shut his mouth and said nothing. There were a few moments of silence before Judai's eyes turned back to their normal color and his shoulders relaxed.

"Okay supposing all this is true, just what does it have to do with our little girl?" Bill asked.

"Everything" Judai replied. "Your daughter has power, enough to make her a duel warrior. One of those chosen to fight in the battles of balance between our world and the spirit world, between light and dark, shadow and truth and whatever other universal forces come her way."

"I…no it can't be. Not my Isabel, there must be something we can do to protect her. Please, tell me what we can do to protect her." Anne begged.

"There is nothing you can do. Her power has already decided her destiny; her choices will decide her fate. The most you can do is offer advice when she needs it."

"Well, if you have all this power like you say, if you're really this Supreme King shouldn't you be the one fighting these battles instead of shrugging off your responsibilities onto an innocent child?"

"I fight my battles she will fight hers."

"What about my son? What's his role in all this."

"I think your son just got caught in whatever it was that Isabel did. He has some power too. Not much just enough to make him a duelist but not nearly enough to make him a duel warrior. He does have a lot of talent though. He may make a good ally for Isabel. But enough talk I've done my duty and explained what I could but explanations aren't really my thing and I still don't know what happened out there. You aren't the only ones who had loved ones hurt you know." With that Judai walked away from the worried and skeptical adults and towards the tired but accepting children.

* * *

Isabel listened to what the teacher was saying while lying very very still. She'd felt fine when she first woke up but her muscles had screamed in pain the first time she tried to move. They hadn't stopped aching since. Still she did her best to ignore the pain and pay attention to what the teacher was telling her.

Isabel accepted the news of her powers with little doubt. She'd always been an imaginative child and she found it easy to imagine herself among the great duel warriors from the stories, even if she didn't truly understand yet what that meant. It was more difficult trying to explain what had happened during her duel with Robin. She remembered shuffling his deck and handing it back to him but that was about it. Everything after that was kind of a blur. A dream blur, the kind where you remember some bits and pieces but none of it makes enough sense to put into words.

She agreed to duel with the teacher as soon as she got her strength back. Her parents weren't happy about her decision but the teacher managed to convince them that she didn't really have much choice. She would have to duel one day anyway; she might as well practice now so that less harm would come to her when she faced her first challenge.

It was three days before Isabel was strong enough to duel. Judai had to work a little harder than usual to maintain his enthusiasm for what was sure to be an interesting duel. The girl's innocence reminded him too much of how his friends had been before their trip into the spirit world. Still he remembered the lesson from his graduation duel and it  _would_ be fun to experience a new way of dueling so he did his best to be excited about it.

The day of the duel came. It had been decided to hold the duel during class time so as to have witnesses but everyone was instructed to stay a decent distance away. Since the unusual occurrence had taken place in a duel using a mat their duel would also be a mat duel.

* * *

Unlike Isabel and Robin, Judai was not and never had been much of an imagineer. He had accepted all of the wild and unbelievable situations he had been thrown into without question because it had never even occurred to him that they might not be real. He was a good story teller only when relating things that had happened or at least that he had been told had happened. Making things up and believing in things that weren't there just didn't come naturally to him. All of this meant when Isabel's magic reached out to him at the start of the duel his mind was not equipped to respond. His magic was not activated and Isabel's finding no partner for the duel retreated back inside her.

* * *

They had a perfectly normal duel with no strange occurrences what so ever. The watching young duelists complained loudly about how anticlimactic the whole thing was but they were ignored.

They dueled several times, with mats and with duel disks, with Judai playing full force and holding back, silently and with banter but nothing worked. Eventually Judai dueled Robin while Isabel paired off against her brothers and the other boys but still nothing happened. Judai began to worry. He felt he had a responsibility to at least gain some kind of understanding of what was going on here but he had been planning to move on in a week and he didn't really what to put off his journey much longer than that. When the sun began to set he sent everyone home.

Judai was uncharacteristically quiet that evening. It seemed that the next step would be to have Robin and Isabel duel each other again, but he wanted to avoid a repeat of what happened last time and he couldn't figure out how to do it. It was times like these that really made him miss Misawa and his other friends. Thinking had never really been Judai's strong suit.

He was about to give up and just go to sleep when a startling thought occurred to him. What he needed was to be able to see the inside of the duel. There were three ways to witness a duel; As a spectator, as a duelists or as a duel spirit. The first two had been tried and failed but the third left Judai with an intriguing idea. It was unlikely to work, but it was worth a try.

 


	10. Monster

Judai was the only duelist in the world who could summon a duel monster in body and spirit outside of a duel however there were many duelists who could summon spirits within a duel setting, and Judai was, after all, half-duel spirit. It was possible that he could be summoned into the duel. Of course there were many obstacles in the way. For one, Isabel was not one of the duelists who could see and summon spirits. Though even if she was he doubted it would make much difference, there was only one other besides the Supreme King who had enough power to summon Yubel anyway and that was Yubel herself. It was this ability to summon herself though that had given his plan some hope. If Isabel could play the card, Yubel could do the summoning and with their souls attached the way they were, Judai should be summoned too, maybe.

Even if all that worked out though there was still the matter of getting Yubel onto the field. Judai knew firsthand just how difficult a card she was to play. Isabel had power but her skill was a little behind her peers, she had only held up as well as she did because of her absolute familiarity and belief in her cards. It seemed unlikely that she would take well to a new card, especially one so out of tune with the rest of her deck.

Judai spent most of the morning lesson distracted by the idea but the more he thought about it the surer he became that Isabel would never manage to get Yubel to the field. He was about to give it up when Winged Kuriboh appeared by his shoulder to chirp in his hear.

"Kuri, Kuri!"

"Hmmm…maybe your right aibou." After thanking the spirit Judai wandered over to where Robin was dueling Jake. Robin had shown an unusual aptitude for understanding the way different duel monsters could be used together to maximize potential. It was possible that he would be able to summon Yubel to the field. Now all he had to do was convince Yubel…yeah, this plan was never going to work but he had to try.

Judai spent the rest of the day arguing with Yubel. His students were starting to get rather worried about their teacher. One minute he'd be lecturing then he'd break off to either stare glassily into the air or start muttering to himself before abruptly starting again right where he'd left off.

Winged Kuriboh, Neos, the other Neospacians, and the Elemental heroes eventually got in on the argument. Most supporting their master though a few decided to support Yubel which lead to Judai breaking off in the middle of a lecture about deck construction to mutter something about traitors.

Judai went to bed disgruntled. Yubel had won. She refused to allow anyone else to play her card and he had accepted her decision. He was out of ideas. Isabel would just have to solve the mystery of her powers on her own. He hoped, for her sake, she figured out what price was demanded of her soon.

Judai was woken from his peaceful slumber by a loud irritated voice that only he could hear.

"Oh, fine I'll do it"

"Yubel? You'll do what?"

"I will allow my card to be placed in the deck of that boy."

"Oh…thank you…Can I go back to sleep now?"

"Of course, I just thought you should be made aware of my decision."

"Oh…Okay, Good night Yubel." With that Judai yawned and drifted back into dreamland. He was a little curious as to what had prompted his protector's change of heart but figured now probably wasn't the best time to go digging. When she was ready to tell him she would.

Judai relayed the plan to Robin early the next morning and advised him to spend the day building a deck that could summon Yubel. Robin, always eager for an interesting challenge, immediately starting working on the problem. By late afternoon he was ready.

This time Judai invited Mr. Martinany and Dr. Fudo to serve as witnesses but only after they promised not to interfere no matter what happened.

Isabel and Robin took their seats and traded decks. Judai positioned himself so that he could see the field but not the hands of either duelist. The two children returned the shuffled decks and drew.

This time the duel was anything but normal. Neither duelist so much as glanced at their cards. Their eyes were locked on each other yet their hands moved deftly manipulating the cards on the field. Now all Judai had to do was wait and hope Robin could manage the rather difficult task of summoning Yubel.

The three spectators sat quietly with their eyes glued on the cards the duelists seemed to be ignoring, desperately trying to keep track of the progress of a duel in which neither player called attacks and the monsters could not be seen. Finally, Judai felt Yubel stir within him.

"It's time; he's going to do it." She sounded surprised and awed. "I have underestimated this little one."

Judai turned towards the anxiously waiting fathers and repeated the first part of Yubel's message.

"It's time." Then he was gone. His body stayed put but it was clear his spirit, his soul was elsewhere.

For a moment Judai was the boy who enrolled in Duel Academy, awed and excited by the simple awesomeness of being a duel monster inside of a duel. It was Yubel who reminded him he wasn't there to sight see; he had a purpose to fulfill.

He reluctantly laid aside the childlike joy and took up the mantle of maturity once again.

A quick glance told him the battle was taking place in an old stone arena not unlike the one where Misawa had first dueled Tanya his future wife. (Last Judai had heard they were expecting their first child sometime this winter.)

Isabel stood on the far side of the arena though she was barely recognizable as the girl Judai knew. She was older and taller. Her black hair was pulled back by a crown and circlet much like the one Princess Edena wore but that was where the similarities between the girl in front of him and the video game princess ended. Her obviously fine dress hung off of her shoulders sloping elegantly to the ground. On her arm she bore a white duel disk accented by dark royal purple and studded with gems. Her eyes spoke of power as she surveyed the soldiers in front of her. This girl was no princess; she was every inch a Queen. She currently had two monsters on the field, The Witch of Endor and Lady Pekkala.

Judai turned to look at the other duelist, the one who had summoned him. The changes in Robin's appearance were even more striking and bizarre. He too seemed older. He wore an open white lab coat but everything else, his shirt, skin, hair and even eyes were marked with the pattern on the back of every Duel Monster card. Yubel was the only monster on his side of the field but Judai could sense the presence of two face down cards without being able to see them.

Judai watched as Isabel drew and summoned Blaca Whit whose effect boosted the Witch's attack strength. Judai could tell at a glance that the cat that appeared on the field was not the same one that he had seen when he confronted Isabel about her deck. It was just a figure like the holograms. His first impression had been right; whatever was going on it wasn't spirit magic.

Isabel ordered her newly powered up witch to attack Yubel. Robin activated a trap card that halved The Witch of Endor's attack strength. The trap protected Yubel but her effect still activated causing a sharp reduction in Isabel's life points.

Even after hearing Isabel's scream, had Judai been alone he might never have figured out the price for this strange game. But he was not alone and Yubel recognized the nature of the payment almost immediately.

"It is pain" she told Judai, "it matters not whether the trauma comes from mind or body so long as it hurts."

"Should we stop the duel?" Judai asked. Yubel considered it for a moment.

"I think not. These two are evenly matched. They will both suffer but they will also recover. I doubt there will be any lasting damage. However, should this girl duel someone much stronger or weaker than she is one of them would end up either mentally or physically crippled."

Judai decided to trust Yubel's instincts and let the duel run its course. His resolve became harder to maintain as the duel went on and the children's screams became weaker. Still letting them continue was the safer option and Judai knew that, even if it was hard to believe.

The duel finally ended with Isabel's victory. The sound of Robin's last scream was still ringing in his ears when Judai found himself abruptly back in his own body.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay time for some clarification as too exactly what is happening in Isabel's duels. Originally I had intended for Judai to work it all out but that's not working. He doesn't have access to enough information to figure out all the ins and outs of what's going on but I still feel I owe an explanation so here it is:
> 
> Isabel is one of the first of a group that will later be known as "psychic duelists" her powers are modeled after Aki from 5Ds (Yes, card games on motorbikes!). In 5Ds Aki is shown making the monsters "real" but what she does seems very different from what Judai and Luna/Rua do. There is no sign that the things she summons are sentient. Thus I theorized that she isn't summoning the spirit of the monster at all. She is instead simply imagining the holograms to be real and her imagining makes it so. Isabel has the same powers but they are displayed very differently. Aki has probably only ever dueled with a duel disk so it would have been natural for her to have imagined the holograms to have more presence than they actually had. Isabel on the other hand, had rarely seen duels with duel disks and the first time she had ever dueled with one was in her first duel against Robin Fudo. She had no reason to imagine the holograms to be any more real than they actually were because they were so much more real than anything else she had experienced. (Her flinching and Robin's yelp were because of the power present in the duel not because of Isabel's magic. Ever notice how the stronger a duelist's opponent the more they react to the holographic attacks even when no magic is involved?) Instead her power manifested inward because that's where her focus was. Isabel spent a lot of time alone; she learned to duel by imagining the duels. Her magic activated and tried to make the duels in her head real. Of course she's not actually powerful enough to create a whole world for her duels to take place in so her magic temporarily "redecorated" her soul room to match her vision then sent an invitation to her opponent where it would be accepted or rejected depending upon the compatibility of the other mind.
> 
> There is another common factor among the various different types of magic duels. There is always a price be it a soul or something else a little less definable. Again I had to look to Aki to see what price Isabel would pay. The answer seemed obvious. Aki tended to use her powers to attack and injure others and it's clear that use of her powers lead Aki to suffer from severe mental trauma as well. The common factor, present on both sides of the equation, is pain. I think that pretty much covers it. If you have any questions feel free to ask.


	11. King

Judai spent the next few days avoiding his hosts as much as possible while staying in the boundaries of basic politeness. Unfortunately Judai wasn't really familiar with the rules of politeness. He was usually able to ignore the rules without offending anyone so actually knowing the rules had never seemed very important. This time was different though. He really didn't want to talk to the Martinanies, he didn't think he could handle their questions again, but he also didn't want to them to think he wasn't grateful for their hospitality and he was having trouble doing both. Trying to do both had ended up involving a lot of guess work. Yubel tried to help but her suggestions ranged from unhelpful to bizarre and possibly dangerous. Eventually he just gave up and started avoiding them completely. He kept teaching the class though and he hoped that this would convey the appropriate message. Not that he had any idea what that message would say.

Two days before he planned to leave Judai had a dream. The dream started as a memory. He was walking along the path that had led to the town when he felt the darkness grip his heart. This time however the premonition did not fade away. Judai could feel the power behind it. It was searching for duel energy to feed on so that it could upset the balance. Judai could also feel that it was weak, compared to him anyway. He knew he could defeat it, he also knew that he wouldn't. There were some lessons that didn't need to be taught twice.

* * *

Isabel watched from her favorite corner as her father paid the teacher or maybe he was just Judai now that the classes were over. Whoever he was, he was leaving. The man who had opened the world of dueling to her, told her of her powers and then dropped the weight of the world on her shoulders like it was nothing.

He'd told her this morning that a danger was coming to the town and it was her job to protect it. He had also said that she shouldn't tell anyone until after he was gone but once he was gone it would be a good idea to inform her brothers and Robin. She was responsible for fighting whatever was coming but she didn't have to do it alone. For the first time Isabel was really beginning to grasp what being a duel warrior meant. It wasn't all heroics like she'd imagined. There was the possibility that she might  _lose_ and in losing she would hurt others. Even if she won she could end up hurting others.

She was still young but even she knew that little girls weren't usually expected to age this much in such a short time. She felt so much older than the naïve little girl who had imagined fighting grand battles just yesterday. If she felt so aged by the thought of having to defend the town what would happen to her after she had her first fight? Would she be the same person?

If Jake had looked into his sister's eyes at that moment he would have immediately recognized the expression they held even though he had only seen it once before in brown eyes flecked with gold.

* * *

Judai had warned Isabel before he left because it had seemed the right thing to do but he had given her strict instructions not to tell anyone else until after he left. He was still explaining to Neos why he wasn't staying to fight and protect the little girl even as he walked out of town. If he was having trouble convincing Neos he didn't have a prayer of convincing the girl's parents that he was doing the right thing.

Judai interrupted Neos's latest plea to his sense of honor and duty to ask Winged Kuriboh which way they should be headed. Once he had his bearings he resumed his argument with Neos.

"You can't just walk away and leave a child to defend a whole town. You are a hero. Hero's protect. You have a duty to protect the girl and the town. You can't just walk away."

"I am not a hero. I am a King. I lead and heroes follow. Heroes protect the king so the king can protect the kingdom."

"Judai! Where is the arrogance coming from? You are a hero that is why you fight with heroes."

"No, No, No. Don't you see? Don't you remember? When I went to find Johan and the others followed me I thought the way you did. I thought I was the hero and it was my job to rescue my lost friend while protecting the friends who had followed me."

"You were right."

"No, I was wrong. I wasn't the hero. Chazz, Cyrus, Alexis and Fubuki were the heroes. It was there job to protect me so I could fight Yubel and protect the world but I didn't let them do their job. I pushed them aside because I wanted to protect them and that nearly got them killed. I thought it had gotten them killed and I gave myself completely to the Haou, if I hadn't had hero friends who survived my mistake the world would have ended. I learned my lesson. I do my job I let the heroes do theirs. Isabel has the potential to be a hero. I have to let her fight her own battles or she won't grow into her potential. I made the right call and even if I didn't it is my call to make. I really don't want to talk about this anymore."

There was silence as all the heroes in Judai's deck reevaluated their purpose. After a while Judai took advantage of the heroes' preoccupation to have a conversation with Yubel in relative privacy.

"Why did you change your mind about being placed in Robin's deck? You didn't have to you know, I would have accepted your decision. I wasn't going to force you."

"I know." Yubel replied and then was silent. The silence stretched on and Judai let it until she broke it. "Ever since I was given this body I have been focused on the duty that went with it. It is my responsibility to protect you and I have done my best to do just that. Only recently I have started to realize that I am not the only one with a duty. You too have responsibilities. In fact I was assigned as your protector so that you could fulfill those responsibilities. I had forgotten that. It is my duty to protect you but it is not my place to stand in your way when you have your own duties to fulfill. These were the thoughts that were beginning to grow in my mind when you first proposed your idea but they were not enough for me to overcome my feelings of betrayal and help you until I thought of it in those words. To help you." Yubel stopped there knowing Judai would see the rest.

"Thank you, Yubel."

"You're welcome, Judai."

Eventually the road became busier and the boy with the deceptively innocent brown eyes managed to hitch a ride to Domino.

 


	12. Fan

The Supreme King and the King of Games (who also happened to be the natural heir of the dead King of Shadows even though he had never claimed the title) met in a park. It was one of Kaiba's parks and thus full of duelists. It had seemed like a natural place for them to meet. It turned out to be a mistake. Judai's name may have been famous but his appearance was a secret known only to those who had attended duel academy. Yugi was not so lucky. Every duelist in the world recognized his distinctive tri-colored hair. Normally this was not a problem.

Yugi had gained quite a bit of height, muscle and confidence since his days of being beaten by school yard bullies and thugs. He might never cast the same aura of power that the pharaoh had when he occupied their body but between his new build and old title he could demand respect without even trying.

He normally walked through this very park without any trouble but normally he was by himself or with someone who shared at least some of his status; Grandpa, Kaiba, Joey, Mai or the latest champion of somewhere. Today was not normal. Today he was with someone younger and unknown. Some duelists saw this as inspiring. If a young nobody like that kid wearing the red jacket could talk to the great King of Games then maybe they could too. Others saw it as an insult. They couldn't understand why the King of Games was talking to a nobody (and probably sharing all sorts of awesome dueling secrets) when he should be talking to them. Still others were simply incredibly curious about the identity of the mysterious stranger who merited the King's attention. In short, Judai's presence marked open season on Yugi.

Which rather quickly turned into a problem, it's hard to make a decision concerning the fate of the world when you're interrupted every few seconds by eager, jealous and curious duelists. Finally Yugi offered a solution.

"I have the key to some of Kaiba's secret places in the park, we can go to one of those or we can head to the nearest duel arena and have a nice public duel. That ought to set things right."

"Thank you, Mr. Moto"

"Yugi"

"Yugi, but as much as I would love to duel you again I kind of like my anonymity and on top of that our dueling would probably send out waves of power that would attract who knows what."

"Privacy it is then right this way."

Judai followed as Yugi proceeded to take a very odd and circuitous route through the park. "So, if you have a key to Kaiba's secret places does that mean you two are really you know "partners" like the mags claim?"

"Ahh…I'd appreciate if you'd wait until we get to the secure location before discussing that particular topic."

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't think you'd be embarrassed it's all over the internet."

"It's not that, just wait please, I'll explain in a bit." After a few more complicated maneuvers under rollercoasters, around trees and through at least two castles; the pair of Kings finally ended up in a secluded courtyard. Yugi inspected the surrounding carefully to make sure they hadn't been followed before summoning the blue eyes white dragon. Of course he couldn't summon the true blue eyes, but a beautiful mechanical dragon with sapphire eyes landed in the courtyard at his call. Yugi had rolled his eyes the first time Kaiba had brought him here but he had grown use to the man's theatrics in the time since.

Yugi walked up to the dragon and whispered a word in the dragon's ear. In response the dragon opened its mouth and Yugi walked in motioning for Judai to follow. The tongue of the mechanical dragon turned out to be a luxurious red carpet that led straight to a finely furnished living room in its belly. As soon as Yugi and Judai were seated the dragon closed its mouth and took flight, presumably back to wherever it had been before Yugi summoned it.

"So, ahh, no. The rumors about Seto and I are most definitely not true. In fact we both have wives and I have a daughter."

Judai spit out the juice from the glass that had been sitting hospitably on the table when they entered.

"The King of Games is married and has a daughter and no one knows! The  _ **President of Kaiba Corp**_ is married and no one knows! How exactly do you keep that a secret? Why do you keep that a secret?"

Yugi laughed heartily at Judai's reaction. "The how is easy," Yugi replied still smiling, "when you're dealing with someone with Kaiba's resources. As to the why," Yugi's smile dropped a little "well, you see, our family members have a disturbing tendency to end up soulless. So far we've always managed to get them back but…it seemed safer to keep them hidden. The younger Kaiba is married too and the father of twin boys. We keep them all as safe and secret as we can. Those rumors about the nature of our relationship drive Seto crazy," Yugi gave a wicked grin that was in sharp contrast with his wide innocent eyes, "but he lets them continue because they're good for security. I have a key to his secret places because he trusts me. I am his friend, his rival and the best hope he has for his family should something happen to him."

"Why are you telling me all this? I come into contact with exactly the kind of forces you don't want knowing!"

"My old friend Winged Kuriboh tells me we are here to decide the fate of the world. It didn't seem like a good idea to start such a discussion off with secrets and I'm sure Yubel can protect the secret if she needs to."

"You know about Yubel? Nothing I've researched pointed to you having any kind of spirit magic."

"I'm the King of Games and some call me the Prince of Shadows, I don't need spirit magic to sense Yubel's presence and you aren't the only one who has been doing research, now if you're through being surprised I'm very curious to hear the details of the problem you're having."

Judai took a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke. The man was right; there were more important things to be dealt with than the King of Game's personal life.

"Throughout history a link between our world and the spirit realm of monsters has been forged and broken and reforged and rebroken. Every time it is forged it brings with it new magics and dangers that eventually scare the people who called it enough to send it back and the world forgets it ever happened until the next time the power is reawakened. By the pattern of history it is my turn to break the link and send the spirits back to their world. But doing so would mean giving up the other half of my soul. I'm not sure I can do that. I'm not even sure it's the right thing to do. What if history is wrong? I thought I was alone. That no one else could understand the depth of the decision I'm being asked to make but Winged Kuriboh pointed out that I was wrong. There was someone else still living who once had been asked to make the same decision. So I came here to ask you. Do you regret it?"

Yugi too thought carefully before answering. "While I was still grieving for Atem, I tried many times to wish that I had never put together the Millennium Puzzle, but I couldn't. I couldn't even completely form the thought. As much as loosing Atem hurt, knowing him was worth it. Letting him go was the right decision too. I'm sure of it. The dead don't belong in the world of the living and, as much as I enjoyed our time together, it was time for him to rejoin his family. I'm not convinced however that sending the millennium items back with him was the right choice. I didn't even think about it at the time. It happened so fast that I didn't even realize at the time there was a choice. I was far too focused on helping my friend to worry about the powers he possessed and what they might mean for the world. I took it for granted that the Shadow Games were bad and therefore should be destroyed. Obviously we failed somehow. The Kaiba brothers' theory is that the millennium items weren't the link. They were merely tools that allowed the link to be built and destroying the hammers doesn't destroy the bridge. I'm sorry Judai, but our situations are not the same. Atem was dead, Yubel is not. I never sought to know more about duel magic than the current situation demanded. You have searched and discovered truth. I can't offer you the kind of advice you want but if I had done my part properly you wouldn't be faced with this decision now so I will help you work through it the best that I can."

Judai nodded his understanding. He'd known all along that it was his decision to make but a tiny part of him had been stubbornly holding on to the hope that this man, his childhood idol, would just give him the answer and tell him what to do. He gave a little internal sigh as that last tiny hope was squished by Yugi's words.

"You know, we might not have to do this alone after all." Yugi spoke slowly as if he was still putting together the thoughts needed to complete the idea. "We can't tell everyone, we can't even tell most people but we are deciding the fate of the world, it might be a good idea to get as many views as possible. When Atem was king of Egypt he had a court that advised him. He was still the one who had to make the final decision but he didn't have to think through everything alone. Maybe we should convene our own court. Do you have people whose judgment and wisdom you could trust?"

Judai didn't even have to think about it. "Yes, I do."

Yugi nodded. "Then if you'll agree, I'll contact Mokuba and have him arrange it. You can gather your people, I'll gather mine and we'll hold a court."

Judai took a second to think it over. The idea was a little scary. The one advantage to making the decision alone was at least if he screwed up no one would no he was to blame. Yugi's way several people would know. Important people whose opinions Judai valued would know he'd ruined everything. On the other hand, he was less likely to screw up if he had more information. Also the hero in him was insisting that gathering the opinions of others before altering their lives was the just thing to do. Judai, as he had pointed out to Neos, was not a hero so he was not bound to the rules of justice. Still, Judai did listen to his inner hero and tried to act on it whenever possible. Yubel's logic ran a bit differently but she came to the same conclusion. Convening a court was the right thing to do. At least it couldn't make things any worse. They hoped.

Yugi took out his cellphone and began to make calls as soon as Judai gave him his assent. Judai grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and went to work trying to pick who should be invited and wondering who the King of Games would invite.


End file.
